Help with Pest or fungus ID on procumbens nana

[KennedyMarx]

Saw this one several junipers at a local nursery. Not sure what it is. Some kind of insect? There some reddish looking branches then some that are obviously dying back from being shaded out. The tips are all healthy looking though.

 

[jk_lewis]

I sincerely hope you didn't buy that one!!!!

I don't think I'd ever go back to that nursery. That tree should not have been left out for sale.

And no, I don't know what that is. If all the branches/needles weren't dead above it, I'd say someone had simply barfed on the tree.

RUN!

 

[KennedyMarx]

Didn't buy that one. Or any of the nanas just in case. I actually went back after passing these up earlier this summer. They didn't have any signs of this before. Now several of them do. I should have mentioned it to the person working, but they were busy when I left. I didn't think to take a picture of the plants from the top, but all of the growing tips looked healthy. It was odd.